National Highways has announced changes to Dart Charge that will require existing account holders to take action to avoid the risk of penalty charge notices.

The changes are intended to deliver improvements, but require account holders to revalidate their payment cards

It’s appointed a new company to take responsibility for vehicle identification, payment processing and account management. Emovis will continue to issue and handle enquiries for penalty charge notices.

The changes are intended to deliver improvements, making the service easier and more accessible.

But the switch to a new company, along with new banking requirements, means that account holders will need to revalidate their payment cards from 28 July 2023. This includes pay-as-you-go customers.

Affected customers have already been written to directly and National Highways says users will be given easy-to-follow instructions when logging into their account.

Those customers not taking action will be affected by crossings not being automatically paid due to invalid card payment details, which may result in a penalty charge notice (PCN) being issued.

National Highways will issue further reminders and is running messages on social media to highlight the need for customers to take action on their accounts.

Helen Watkinson, head of road user charging, Dart Charge, said: “We are really excited about the changes to Dart Charge. We have worked hard to design a customer-centric service with the new suppliers, really putting the customer at the heart of our design. Whilst there are improvements from day one, we have further exciting improvements in the pipeline to further enhance the service offer and offer customers more flexibility.

“We will announce further changes as they come online. We thank our customers for their feedback which has helped to design the new service and look forward to continuing that customer relationship to further improve the service.”

Details of the scheme are available on the website or by phoning 0300 300 0120. Customers can also leave feedback and comments on the website.